NEW for 2009! Several major electronics manufacturers are now offering surprisingly affordable home theater in a box surround sound audio systems that feature BOTH a built-in 1080p Blu-ray disc player AND Ethernet home network connectivity.

Especially if you will be connecting to a 1920 x 1080 resolution high definition television or projector, you will definitely want to show off 100% of the Full HD visual beauty that's possible from today's 1080p Blu-ray movies. Just like standard 480i DVDs, you can either purchase or rent Blu-ray discs. But either way, BD-Live and BONUSVIEW are just the beginning of what's possible when your home theater's got high-speed internet access.

If you run an Ethernet cable from your home network to the back of the Blu-ray/receiver, and an HDMI cable from the back of the Blu-ray/receiver to your HDTV or projector, (Monster Cable's Blu-Ray 1200 Higher Definition Experience Pack includes both an Ethernet and HDMI cable, or you can choose your Ethernet cable and HDMI cable separately), you can also access streaming (HD and non-HD) online video content and music!

For example, the new value-packed $700 LG LHB977 Blu-ray 5.1 home theater system from Amazon.com pictured above will play 1080p Blu-ray disc movies, upscale standard DVD movies to 1080p, play music CDs, AM/FM radio, and connect to an iPod. LG's NetCast offers Netflix Instant Streaming movies (some 720p) and Pandora Internet Radio access. BEST OF ALL, the LG LHB977 HTIB has two HDMI inputs!!

Don't need HDMI inputs
and/or video switching?

Of course the new $700 Panasonic SC-BT300 Blu-ray 7.1 home theater system pictured to the left will easily handle 1080p Blu-ray discs, up-scale standard DVDs, and play music CDs. Panasonic's VIERA CAST will let you view YouTube videos (currently up to 720p) and Picasa Web Albums, although you definitely WON'T get multi-channel surround sound audio from YouTube. (Heck, sometimes you might not even get two-channel stereo!)

The Panasonic SCBT300 HTIB is available for online purchase from Sixth Avenue Electronics, Beach Audio, and at Amazon.com.

The $550 Samsung HT-BD1250 Blu-ray 5.1 home theater system is available for online purchase from Vann's, Electronics Expo, Abt, and at Amazon.com.